Safety appliance for railways.



S. JENSEN.

SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR RAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.20, 1912.

Patented Apr. 21, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

q/v i/limeooao LOLUMDIA PLANoGhAPu co., WASHXNGTVN. D c.

S. JENSEN.

SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR EAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 20, 1912.

7 M, a m g 1 W m g SORE'N JENSEN, 0F RACINE, WISCONSIN.

SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR RAILWAYS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 21,1914.

Application filed August 20, 1912. Serial No. 716,045.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, SOREN JENSEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Racine, in the county of Racine and State of Wisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in Safety Appliances for Railways, of which the following is a specification.

An object of the invention is to provide a device for automatically stopping a train or car to prevent the same from running into a closed block or beyond a danger signal.

The invention embodies, among other features, a device of the tripper type and in which a tripping mechanism is arranged between the rails of a track to be engaged by a lever having connection with the air brake system of the train or car, whereby, when the tripping mechanism engages the mentioned lever, a valve will be opened to bleed the train line, thus resulting in the applica-' tion of the brakes on the train or car to bring the same to a stop.

In the further disclosure of the invention reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings constituting a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference denote corresponding parts in all the views, and in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a track and a car thereon, the track and car being equipped with my device; Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 2-2 in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 3-3 in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 44 in Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 5-5 in Fig. 2; and Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 66 in Fig. 2. Fig. 7 is a detail perspective view of the striker bar.

Referring more particularly to the views, I employ a plurality of bearing members 10 for rigid connection with ties 11 of a track 12, the bearing members 10 being secured to the ties between the track rails and having a horizontally extending shaft 14 journaled thereon, the said shaft being provided with a laterally extending lug 15 adapted to receive one end of a chain or the like leading to a signal tower, a toothed wheel 16 being keyed to the free end of the shaft 14 and adapted to have a chain 17 in engagement therewith, said chain leading to the usual semaphores of a block system, it being un-.

derstood that rotation can be imparted to the shaft 14 either through the medium of the usual lever in the signal tower and which has connection with the lug 15 on the shaft 14, or the shaft will be rotated when the semaphore is actuated and which has connection with the toothed wheel 16 by means of the chain 17 as mentioned.

Spaced blocks 18 are rigidly keyed or otherwise secured to the shaft 14, between the bearing members 10, and journaled in the said blocks is a shaft 190n which is mounted to swing a tripper plate 20, a spring 21, preferably consisting of a collar 22 and prongs 23, formed with the collar 22, being keyed or otherwise rigidly secured to the shaft 14, between the blocks 18, with the prongs 23 extending upwardly and engaging both sides of the tripper plate 20 as shown.

On the under side of a car 24 a pipe 25 is arranged for connection with the usual train line 26, a depending pipe 27 being arranged for connection with the pipe 25 and having a suitable valve 28 mounted on the lower end thereof as shown in Fig. 6. A lever 29 has connection with the valve stem 30 of the valve 28 and by referring to Fig. 6 it will be seen that when the lever 29 is in vertical position the valve will be closed, whereas when the lever is moved either to the right or to the left of its normal vertical position, the valve will open, thus bleeding the train line 26, it being readily understood that when the train line is bled the brakes will be applied on the car in the usual manner.

A striker bar 31 is mounted to slide on the lower end of the lever 29, a suitable thumb screw 32 being mounted on the striker bar and adapted to engage the lever 29 to secure the striker bar rigidly thereon, the said striker bar being thus adjustable on the lever 29, the lower end of the striker bar terminating in a head 33 which is adapted to engage the tripper plate 20 as will be more fully disclosed hereinafter.

Now if for any reason, when a train approaches a switch or block, the engineer fails to observe the signal, if the operator in the signal tower has actuated the shaft 14 to swing the tripper plate 20 into vertical position, at the moment the striker bar 31 engages the tripper plate, the lever 29 will be thrown either to the right or to the left of its normal vertical position, thus opening the valve 28 and bleeding the train line sulfibe noted that by means of the toothed wheel 1 16 having connection with a semaphore,

electrically or otherwise operated, when the semaphore is thrown into danger position, the shaft 14 will be actuated to move the tripper plate into vertical position so that if the engineer fails to see the danger signal of the semaphore, the engagement of the striker bar 31 with the tripper plate 20- will result in the application of the brakes, regardless of any action on the part of the engineer. As mentioned heretofore, the shaft 14; and the prongs 23 of the spring 21, engage both sides of the tripper plate to retain the tripper plate in vertical position, the said tripper plate being mounted to swing on the shaft 19; By providing the ad justable striker bar, the same can be arranged any desired distance from the ground so that the striker bar will accurately and positively strike the tripper plate as the train passes over the same.

It will be understood that my device can be used in connection with various signal systems together with various kinds of air brake systems, and it should be noted that I do not limit myself to the construction as disclosed in the drawings, the scope of the invention being defined in the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

In train stopping apparatus, the combination with a trackway, of horizontally alining bearings disposed between the rails of said traokway, a shaft journaled in said bearings, blocks carried by said shaft between said bearings, a second shaft journaled in said blocks, a tripper plate pivotally mounted upon said last shaft, a collar surrounding the first-mentioned shaft below the, second-named shaft, spring arms formed integral with said collar and extending upwardly at opposite sides of said tripper plate vand embracing the latter and acting to hold the tripper plate against swinging move ment on the second-named shaft, means for rotating said first shaft to swing the tripper plate to active and inactive positions, a train-carried device comprising a valve connected in the train line air pipe, a handle on said valve, and a striker bar mounted on said handle and adjustable thereon and adapted to engage said tripper plate when the latter is in active position whereby the pressure of the train line air will be reduced.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

SOREN JENSEN.

Witnesses:

CHARLES I. KNUosnN, C. O. PETERSEN.

Copies of this patent maybe obtained for five cents each, by addressing the iCommissioner of Iatents,

Washington, I). G. 

